Don’t invite extraterrestrials — they’ll destroy Earth / Religion on ETs

[astr0144]

Don't invite extraterrestrials — they'll destroy Earth.




A group of scientists in California recently unveiled plans to advertise Earth's existence to space aliens, and invite them to visit. This prospect should terrify anyone familiar with the history of imperialism and conquest. On our planet, when a civilization that considers itself superior encounters a "lower" one, the result has usually been enslavement or massacre. Aliens would probably treat us just as pitilessly.

Reaching out to extraterrestrial intelligence is the worst idea ever. It transcends follies committed by individual nations because it exposes all humanity to destruction. "Fatal embrace!" Herman Melville cried when he saw Pacific Islanders welcoming Europeans. "They fold to their bosom the vipers whose sting is destined to poison all their joys."


Human history must guide any debate about whether we should trumpet our presence to aliens. It tells of many who suffered and died because they attracted the attention of powerful predators. Spain sought gold in the New World, so entire civilizations were crushed. Belgium wanted rubber from the Congo and did not mind killing half of the 16 million Congolese to get it. Other examples fill many books.

These slaughters were possible because the perpetrators believed themselves inherently superior, and therefore licensed to eliminate lesser creatures. Winston Churchill favored gassing "uncivilized tribes" because "the Aryan stock is bound to triumph." Theodore Roosevelt said he didn't believe the only good Indian was a dead Indian, "but I believe nine out of every 10 are, and I shouldn't like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth."

Aliens might feel the same way about us, especially if they are, in Bertrand Russell's words, "as superior to ourselves as we are to jellyfish." In that case, they will not hesitate to brutalize us, eat us, or simply swat us away. There is no reason to presume they will have developed compassion or altruism. If aliens are anything like human beings, we should hide from them.

Some radio astronomers, however, believe we should do the opposite: attract their attention. For decades they have been listening for signals from outer space through a modestly-funded program called Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or SETI. At a conference last month in California that was sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, several unveiled plans to take a fateful next step. No longer satisfied with simply listening, they want to beam active signals — perhaps including the entire Internet — into deep space. They call this METI — Messaging to Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence.

Some scientists are alarmed by the prospect of METI. A few days after the California conference, 28 signed a statement warning that extraterrestrial intelligence is likely to be millions of years more advanced than humanity, and could be hostile. "METI programs carry unknown and potentially enormous implications and consequences," they wrote. "We feel the decision whether or not to transmit must be based upon a worldwide consensus, and not a decision based upon the wishes of a few individuals with access to communications equipment."

Fantasies about alien invasion are staples of popular culture. Some of the best, like H.G. Wells's classic "The War of the Worlds," are allegories about the rapacity of imperialism. The two phenomena are closely linked, as the physicist Stephen Hawking has recognized. "If aliens visit us," Hawking predicted, "the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans."

It may be humanity's fate to be discovered by aliens, and even to be destroyed by them. But we should not invite that end. History teaches us that interventions from afar can bring catastrophe. We should be guided by those experiences, in intergalactic as well as international relations.

One day there will be a last poem written on Earth, and a last song sung. It would be lamentable if humanity's last instinct is, "Let's invite aliens to help us! They'll probably be friendly!"


http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/03/11/don-invite-extraterrestrials-they-destroy-earth/1AU2P0TBaN9bZ9kgx3FxuL/story.html


How would earthly religions handle aliens?

Some couldn't tolerate extraterrestrial life, while others already anticipate it, David Weintraub found.



RIDLEY SCOTT'S 2012 film "Prometheus," which proposed that humans had been genetically engineered by an alien species, did not go down well with the Catholic News Service. "What jumps out is the movie's rejection of a fundamental tenet of theism, namely, the belief that God created the human race," a CNS reviewer grumbled, going on to describe the plot as "problematic for viewers of faith."

That was a movie. Imagine what would happen if we had real-world proof of the existence of intelligent life on other planets: That would violate whole piles of fundamental religious tenets. For Catholics one big problem would be original sin, which is supposed to have happened right here, in a place called the Garden of Eden, leading to the notion of redemption through Christ. If aliens don't fit into this story, Christianity turns out to be a pretty provincial affair. How would theologians respond to that? How would any religion?


David Weintraub, a professor of astronomy at Vanderbilt University, has a stab at answering this question in his new book, "Religions and Extraterrestrial Life: How Will We Deal With It?" In the book, Weintraub picks through the cosmologies of Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Judaism to see what happens when you throw aliens into the mix.

Though this might sound like an exotic issue for theologians to address, religious thinkers have in fact been considering it in some form for thousands of years. (There is a similar book out this month by two Vatican astronomers titled "Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial?") The issue raises profound questions about the breadth of creation and humans' relationship to the divine, and, Weintraub finds, would challenge some belief systems significantly more than others.

If a Mars rover turned up evidence of life tomorrow, Weintraub's research suggests that a wide range of reactions would ensue: Evangelical Christians would recoil; Mormons would rejoice; Jews would basically shrug. All, however, would be compelled to take a very close look at their sacred texts, to see which parts need to be reinterpreted. The harder we look out into space, Weintraub notes, the more urgent this question becomes. "We should prepare," he says.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/10/25/how-would-earthly-religions-handle-aliens/fiY71Skj1Mhd7QMM2empHK/story.html?p1=Article_Related_Box_Article

[Pimander]

It's boring here.  Come and get us.

[space otter]

hey Pimander...what makes you think they haven't checked us out and left laughing

[Pimander]

They have been.  The planets been here billions of years.  THEY HAVE BEEN!

[Shasta56]

Why would the ET's destroy earth?  Humans already have that we'll under way.

Shasta

[Pimander]

Why would the ET's destroy earth?  Humans already have that we'll under way.

Shasta

If they see how we operate, then the sensible option would be to contain us or if not possible annihilate us before we get "out there" and threaten the rest of the Galaxy.  We might try to "civilise" them.  Look how that turned out for the Natives in Australia, Africa and North America!

[thorfourwinds]

[Toltec]

I guess Et will in various ways, with awareness is one thing, intelligently is another, a high technological level does not imply awareness (consciousness is leading us down the right path) so there will be everything and we should be careful in choosing friends. They also should be.
it's just an opinion